Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for providing a communication parameter using a communication apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
In recent years, wireless LAN (local area network) functions have been increasingly included in devices such as personal computers (PCs), mobile phones, digital cameras, and printers. In general, a base station (an access point) is required for communication in an infrastructure mode via wireless LAN. Meanwhile, in recent years, a technique has been proposed according to which communication is realized between terminals in the infrastructure mode even in an environment where no base station is present, due to a simple base station function being included in the terminals. With regard to this technique, Wi-Fi Alliance, which is the business association for the wireless LAN, has standardized Wi-Fi Direct as a specification for realizing direct communication between terminals using a terminal that includes the simple base station function.
With Wi-Fi Direct, a device that operates as the simple base station is defined as a P2P (Peer-to-Peer) GO (Group Owner), and a terminal device that is to be connected to the P2P GO is defined as a P2P Client. Capability information that is referred to as an “intent value” is exchanged among the devices so as to determine which device is to operate as the P2P GO, and which device operates as the P2P Client. Also, it is also possible for a given device to necessarily operate as the P2P GO without exchanging intent values with another device. Such a P2P GO is referred to as an “Autonomous GO”.
The device that has been defined as the P2P GO activates the simple base station function and forms a wireless network. The P2P Client executes communication parameter setting for the wireless LAN using later-described WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) so as to automatically connect to the wireless network formed by the P2P GO. Accordingly, the P2P GO and the P2P Client form a wireless LAN network called a P2P group, and in the P2P group, direct communication between the P2P GO and the P2P Client is possible via the wireless LAN.
Here, the above-described WPS is a standard technique of the wireless LAN for easily performing setup of communication parameters such as security settings and the like required for wireless LAN connection and for allowing a communication apparatus to participate in an infrastructure network. With WPS, an enrollee, which is a communication parameter receiving apparatus that wishes to connect to the wireless LAN network, acquires a communication parameter required for the wireless LAN connection from a communication parameter provision apparatus called a registrar. Also, examples of WPS include a PBC (Push Button Configuration) method in which buttons are pressed in both devices and a PIN method in which a predetermined PIN code is set in both devices to set communication parameters between the devices whose PIN codes match.
With Wi-Fi Direct, the P2P GO having the simple base station is a registrar and the P2P Client is an enrollee. The P2P Client transmits a provision discovery request that includes information and the like that are compatible with the PIN method or the PBC method to the P2P GO in order to request communication parameter provision using WPS. Upon receiving the provision discovery request, the P2P GO starts operation as the registrar, and starts processing for providing the communication parameter using WPS. Therefore, a user is not requested to perform an instruction operation for starting the registrar operation on the communication apparatus that has been defined as the P2P GO.
On the other hand, a case will be described in which a given partner apparatus connects to a communication apparatus that is the P2P GO in the PBC method of WPS. In such a case, it is necessary for the communication apparatus to operate as the registrar so that the partner apparatus acquires a communication parameter using the PBC method. However, unlike the Wi-Fi Direct method, with the PBC method, the partner apparatus does not transmit a provision discovery request, and therefore, a user is requested to perform an instruction operation so that the communication apparatus activates the function as the registrar. In this case, for example, the user needs to perform an instruction operation such as pressing a WPS button of the communication apparatus, or the like.
In contrast, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-278536 describes an apparatus that, in response to a power source being switched on, starts operation as the registrar for providing a communication parameter using the PBC method without receiving a command from the outside, such as a user operation or the like.
However, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-278536 does not describe a case in which the communication parameter request is received from a partner apparatus for communication using the Wi-Fi Direct method. Therefore, taking the case of the Wi-Fi Direct method into consideration, there has been an issue in that the user of the communication apparatus needs to recognize whether the communication apparatus has received the request using the Wi-Fi Direct or using the PBC method. Also, with the apparatus described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-278536, communication parameter provision processing after the operation as the registrar has stopped is not described. Therefore, there has been an issue in that in order to request the communication parameter provision processing after the operation as the registrar has stopped, the user needs to perform an instruction operation after all.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described issues, and provides a technique according to which a communication apparatus can easily execute provision of a communication parameter regardless of the format of a communication parameter request from a partner apparatus.